Dems terror rhetoric not matching their actions.
It would be comical were it not our national security.
Democrats have a lot of rhetoric denouncing Bush-era War on Terror policies these days. Just one thing: They seem to be keeping all of the Bush-era War on Terror policies.
Saying earlier today that the United States “went off course” with it’s post 9-11 actions President Obama promised to pursue new policies that sound exactly like what was already occurring:
Obama contended that the record is clear: Rather than keep Americans safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security. Turning to detainees who remain, the president will announce this framework:
–When feasible, try those who have violated American criminal laws in federal courts.
–When necessary, try those who violate the rules of war through Military Commissions.
–When possible, transfer to third countries those detainees who can be safely transferred.
Indeed, the Bush administration already prosecuted several War on Terror suspects in our federal court system, including Zacarias Moussaoui and Jose Padilla. The military commissions act was already established by Congress a couple of years ago (not that FDR ever bothered asking Congress for powers he already had from the U.S. Constitution), and would have been used more if not for the liberals now advocating… military tribunals. And, to retort point three, hundreds of detainees have been released to date, mostly transferred to other countries. (Of the remaining couple hundred detainees our allied countries are justifiably asking why we won’t take them if they’re really not dangerous — the answer is, of course, because, you know, they’re actually dangerous.)
So, what’s changed? Just the amount of Obama rhetoric is all. Maybe we need more HopeNChange?
Meanwhile Democrats like Senator Michael Bennet are protesting ANY attempt to transfer Guantanamo detainees to their home states. Indeed, the hypocritical Democrat Senate voted 90-6 today “to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States.” (Associated Press) Oh, be sure to read James Taranto’s satire making fun of those Senate Democrats.
But, wait, there’s more:
For example, President Obama kept George W. Bush’s military tribunals for terror detainees after calling them an “enormous failure” and a “legal black hole.” His campaign claimed last summer that “court systems . . . are capable of convicting terrorists.” Upon entering office, he found out they aren’t.
He insisted in an interview with NBC in 2007 that Congress mandate “consequences” for “a failure to meet various benchmarks and milestones” on aid to Iraq. Earlier this month he fought off legislatively mandated benchmarks in the $97 billion funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama agreed on April 23 to American Civil Liberties Union demands to release investigative photos of detainee abuse. Now’s he reversed himself. Pentagon officials apparently convinced him that releasing the photos would increase the risk to U.S. troops and civilian personnel.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama excoriated Mr. Bush’s counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, insisting it could not succeed. Earlier this year, facing increasing violence in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama rejected warnings of a “quagmire” and ordered more troops to that country. He isn’t calling it a “surge” but that’s what it is. He is applying in Afghanistan the counterinsurgency strategy Mr. Bush used in Iraq.
As a candidate, Mr. Obama promised to end the Iraq war by withdrawing all troops by March 2009. As president, he set a slower pace of drawdown. He has also said he will leave as many as 50,000 Americans troops there.
Karl Rove, of all people, calls Obama’s reversals “praiseworthy.” That they may be, but don’t expect him to be honest about the actions not matching the rhetoric.